Black Diamond has issued a recall of certain 2010 model AvaLung backpacks. They sent out the recall notice on Tuesday, December 14th and encourage anybody who owns one of the affected packs to immediately return it to Black Diamond for a replacement. Below is the recall notice as found on Black Diamond’s website: Salt Lake City, Utah (December 14, 2010) – Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. has recently discovered that the intake tubing on certain 2010 AvaLung Packs may crack under extremely cold temperatures. We are working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, and are in...
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Days Fork, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, is the place to be on a powder day when the snowpack is stable… but you have to get there early. The upper cirque of Days Fork is part of the Valhalla that is the Alta backcountry, which includes Cardiff Fork, Silver Fork, Grizzly Gulch, etc. Because of this, the area tends to get crowded and tracked out (hence the need for a pre-dawn start for first tracks) but provides some of the best bang for the buck when farming turns over and over again. Upper Days Fork is filled with short...
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Canyons opened for the 2010/11 on Friday, December 10th to much fanfare over the new, first-of-its-kind in North America, Orange Bubble Express with heated seats. According to Canyons, the seats are set at a toasty 56 degrees, and judging from people’s reactions on the first day, the Orange Bubble is a hit. The first 100 people to get on the lift were awarded neon orange Oakley goggles, and the stokage bubbled over. Of course the Orange Bubble Express isn’t the only improvement launched on opening day. Today was also the debut of the newly aligned Red Pine Gondola, and...
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Have you ever wanted an old chair lift as a swing or bench in the backyard? Well now is the time to plunk down the cash and get one, while supporting a worthy cause in the process. The Chairity Lift project aims to auction off 40 dismantled chairlifts that came from the historic Golden Eagle lift that The Canyons ski resort recently replaced with a new high-speed quad. The Chairity Lift project united 20 artists with 20 corporations to benefit 20 charities in order to design 40 old chairlifts for the auction. Each chair is a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art that...
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Grab your camera and head for the mountains with your skiing buddies, because the annual Ski Salt Lake Shootout registration has begun for 2011, and this year the competition is also open to local professional ski photographers and pro athletes (both skiers and snowboarders.) The 2011 Ski Salt Lake Shootout takes place February 7-12, and the online registration deadline is Friday, January 7. The registration competition will be fierce as only eight professional ski photographers will be chosen to shoot it out with each other in the hope of winning cash prizes. Photogs and athletes will spend four days at...
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Alpine skis have undergone a lot of revolutionary designs in the past 20 years. From shaped skis, powder, twin tips, rocker, and reverse camber, it seems every year a new design changes the skiing world. Just when you think nothing else can be done to the shape of skis, Ogden-based Salomon comes along and challenges the status quo with the new BBR ski. The BBR ski is the latest design from Salomon’s ski designer Bertrand Krafft. The guy is the one responsible for Salomon’s Pocket Rocket, which launched twin tip skis into the mainstream. Krafft’s newest design, the BBR,...
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When I was a kid, I always loved to spread ski maps out on my bedroom floor and pour over them. I would trace my fingers down the runs, imagining myself skiing through those trees, or maybe someday dropping that cliff band, just like Glen Plake. So when Eric Wagnon, the Skiing Examiner, brought SkiMap.org to my attention, I was filled with nostalgia while pouring over those maps from the ’70s and 80′s once again. The website has scans of hundreds of old ski maps from around the world, including dozens from here in Utah. Ever wonder what The...
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Flagstaff Mountain (also called Flagstaff Peak) is right across the road from Alta, is very visible to everyone skiing there, and is accessed by a skintrack that begins right in town. All of this makes Flagstaff arguably one of the most crowded backcountry ski areas in the country. But that’s okay, because the terrain you can access from the top is worth leap-frogging with fellow skiers going after the goods. Days Fork, Reed and Benson Ridge, Emma Ridge, Davenport Hill, and Mill D South Fork are all backcountry ski areas that fan out around Flagstaff Mountain. Add a very...
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Outdoor pants need to be burly. If you have a favorite pair of pants, you take them everywhere. You wedge them in cracks while rock climbing, bushwhack with them through mountain foliage, subject them to errant sparks around a campfire, and expose them to spilled beer in smoke-filled pubs. To withstand such abuse, your favorite pants need to be built with bombproof material, yet somehow stay comfortable enough to wear all day, every day.  Do these pants even exist? I found mine in the Mountain Khakis Alpine Utility Pant, held up with the Webbing Belt. Alpine Utility Pant The Alpine Utility...
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Looking for new backcountry touring skis this season? Well, you can buy some new sticks and help out the Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) at the same time. A shiny new pair of Black Diamond Drift skis with custom Utah Avalanche Center graphics are on auction at Ebay. These skis are brand new, still in the plastic, are one of a kind, and can be yours if you’re the winning bidder. Black Diamond built these skis just for Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, and donated them so all the proceeds from the Ebay auction will go to benefit the UAC and...
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Imagine you’re skinning up for some backcountry skiing in Days Fork near Alta. You checked the avalanche report in the morning and feel good to go as the day is forecast to be a moderate, level 2 rating. Just as you enter avalanche terrain in a high elevation area, your phone chirps with a new text message that reads: “11am, Days Fork, skier caught, uninjured, soft slab, 2′x100′x500′.” Wouldn’t you be glad to have this information before dropping into Days Fork yourself? Then sign up to receive text messages from the Utah Avalanche Center. Avalanche conditions are constantly in...
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